What does Skroutz say about the incident with the 365shop online store?

Skroutz issued an announcement-response following consumer complaints regarding purchases from the 365 shop GR company that had been made through its platform. Skroutz emphasizes that from the very first consumer comments “it responded immediately, investigating the case and proceeded to terminate – terminate the cooperation with the specific store”, while the store was immediately removed from its platform. At the same time, he underlines that he proceeded with actions of support and compensation of the consumers.

In particular, in its announcement Skroutz states the following:

Regarding the incident that has occurred with the company 365 SHOP GR SOLE SHAREHOLDER IKE, store “365shop”, the company Skroutz clarifies the following:

From the very first comments of the consumers, we responded immediately, investigating the case and proceeding to termination – termination of the cooperation with the specific store.

At the same time, always focusing on our operation and activity, customer service and support, we proceeded with actions of support and compensation of consumers.

More specifically, it is worth mentioning that the store 365 SHOP GR MONOPROSSOPI IKE, based in Katerini, has been active in the Skroutz price comparison platform since 2019, participating in various product categories, fulfilling the then applicable conditions for joining the comparison platform.

On 9/02/2022 he made a change of ownership status based in Athens, while the change was officially posted on the GEMI (General Commercial Register) on 31/3/2022. On Monday 4/4/2022 we received the first negative reviews for this store and our control mechanisms were activated immediately.

The store was removed from Skroutz’s price comparison platform on the same day, as a change of ownership status was found in GEMI, of which neither the banks with which the store was cooperating until then were aware. With the main focus on consumer protection, the store was immediately removed from the platform and we proceeded to contact the consumers directly in order to inform them to proceed with the questioning of their banking transaction.

Then, with our primary concern, the impeccable shopping experience of the consumers, we decided to proceed with actions of support and compensation of the consumers. It is worth mentioning that from the beginning of the event until today the company has already responded to 492 consumer emails in which it either offers compensation in the form of a voucher of the same value as the order – through the Skroutz Marketplace – for consumers who have completed their purchase through bank deposit, or supports and assists consumers who made a card purchase (debit or credit) to get their money back from the card issuing bank through the transaction dispute process. So far 106 coupons worth: € 51,418.75 have been issued.

Special mention should be made of the Skroutz store inclusion policy which is constantly changing over time in order to become more stringent in order to ensure consumer protection. More specifically, the current participation policy in the Skroutz price comparison platform from February 2022 is the following:

– Any store wishing to register with Skroutz with its own e-shop must have completed at least three annual uses before submitting the application. At the same time, the company must have an annual turnover of at least 50,000 euros.

– If the store has less than three (closed) uses and records an annual turnover of less than 50,000 euros (in each use), then it can use the Skroutz Marketplace for the next two years. After two years, it will be possible to evaluate the possibility of activating the redirection model.

– If the company has more than three fiscal years and records an annual turnover of more than 50,000 euros / year, then it can use both the participation model in the price comparison platform and the Skroutz Marketplace.

– Companies operating in the mobile industry, laptops, tablets, game consoles will be able to sell their products only through the Skroutz Marketplace (for at least two years).

Finally, it should be emphasized that the data of each company are checked for their validity through the application of GSIS (General Secretariat of Information Systems) while the registration in GEMI (General Commercial Register) is mandatory. More information on the companies’ participation in the Skroutz price comparison platform can be found here.

In conclusion, it should be emphasized that Skroutz does not mediate in the purchases between the consumer and the online store, does not represent or substitute any commercial store except for the orders which are made through the Skroutz Marketplace service, where the transaction is completed with complete security on our page. (more information here).

To emphasize that we remain faithful to our commitment to be on the side of the consumer at all times and we will continue to invest in systems and processes that offer immediate, fast and easy shopping experience to consumers, combined with appropriate support and service. ”